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Has Facebook or Twitter censored your posts? Report it to onlinecensorship.org

Have you ever been a victim of social media censorship, where you’ve posted an image on Instagram breastfeeding your child, only for Instagram’s censorship watchdogs to deem it in breach of their terms and conditions and take it down, or worse still, suspend your account? Well, now you can file reports of social media censorship with the help of Onlinecensorship.org.

Here's how to report social media censorship

Onlinecensorship.org has launched a new project which allows users to submit a report when their social media posts, images or videos have been taken down, or their account has been suspended or terminated.

Onlinecensorship.org is a non-profit project co-founded by Ramzi Jaber of Visualizing Impact and Jillian C. York from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The aim of the project is to find out why companies remove content, how the removal of such information affects users’ lives and to hold “Internet companies publicly accountable for the way in which they exercise power over people’s digital lives.”

When we think about internet censorship, countries such China, Iran and North Korea spring to mind - countries which are infamous for blocking social media sites - denying their citizens from voicing their opinions online. However, we rarely think about how and why social media platforms decide what is, and what is not acceptable public speech.

Speaking to CBC News, Jillian York from the EFF said: “Basically these spaces are where our daily interactions take place, and these companies now have as much control over our speech as the state or the church did in the past.”

As more and more people use and depend on social media platforms to voice their opinions, discuss current affairs, partake in debates, and share videos and snapshots of their lives with family, friends and the outside world, it’s crucial for social media sites to be transparent in what is or is not acceptable public speech.

Social media companies censor user content

Are social media sites the free and open forums we’re led to believe, or are they playing the dubious role of Big Brother by controlling and censoring what we can and cannot say on social media platforms?

Most social media sites are privately owned and have their own sets of rules in deciding what is and what is not acceptable, and in some cases will censor users’ content.

The Onlinecensorship.org project wants users of the six most popular social media sites, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Instagram, and Google Plus to file a report if their content has been censored or removed by the tech giants. From the reports submitted, Onlinecensorship.org will be able to learn and understand more about how social media companies enforce their terms of service.

If your image, video or status has been censored visit Onlinecensorship.org and follow their submission process. If, for example, you want to file a report against Twitter, simply answer the following questions:

What was censored by Twitter?

My account was suspended

My Tweet was deleted

My video was deleted

My photo was deleted

An ad I posted/wished to post was deleted/refused

If you wish, you can remain anonymous.

What do you think about social media censorship? Does it frustrate you that social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter have the power to violate your right to free speech, or perhaps you believe it’s the given right of social media sites to be able to decide what can and cannot be posted on their platforms? Let us know your thoughts on social media censorship by posting right here on our blog.